My friend Spencer caught wild Salmon last fall and brought it home. We had some left in the freezer and I needed to whip together a Sunday dinner, so Kevin, my other friend, followed my easy instructions to make brown rice with onions, salt, and pepper in the pressure cooker, while I drizzled salmon with [...]
Recently, it got warm outside and I started feeling summer coming on. But the last week brought a cold snap back to the valley. Making split pea soup is a sure way to drive out the cold, and I had leftover ham in my freezer. Garnished with butter, salt, and crushed red pepper, you’ll be [...]
Raisins are grapes. Did you know that? I just assume everyone does. And the recently popularized Craisins by Ocean Spray. (Other brands of dried cranberries are available, too.) Do you know what a prune is? I’m not going to tell you. I’d rather you figure it out for yourself. I learned most of what I [...]
Good food, and cooking, are a part of the arts. There is no question about that. But it’s more like a performing art than a visual art. Food won’t keep like a painting or a photograph. That may be why I like visual art that puts food as it’s subject matter. It lasts forever. It’s [...]
A couple of years ago, I researched hand-powered grain mills and selected an inexpensive, yet effective model. I chose it for a light-duty machine, and as an emergency backup. A photo of my own making. I love the look of this mill. It’s so linear. The brushed steel adds to the clean look as well. [...]
I give scraps to my lovely dog, Sootkee sometimes. But I’m pretty careful about what I give her. I’m a left-overs-eater but I don’t have my own family yet, so I sometimes don’t finish everything before I feel like it’s too old to eat. Food does spoil, even in the refrigerator. Have you ever left [...]
We had our monthly company lunch meeting today. It’s always super casual buffet style. Today we had barbecue pulled pork and beef, mashed potatoes. I loved it. It wasn’t even that special, but free food gets me almost every time. Why is that? One of my favorite department heads gave the presentation, but all I [...]
I am a Wal-Mart fanatic. I shop there a lot. Don’t hate me for it. I also plant my own garden, collect wild fruits, and make my own pickles. But there is something great about Wal-Mart. So many aisles and so many items. Wal-Mart is a giant idea-box. Walk up and down the aisles, and [...]
A crab apple tree loaded with white blossoms makes me happy. First of all, I think it’s a stunning sight. But on top of that, flowers in the spring represent fruit in the fall. Flowering crabs are mostly ornamental these days. The fruits are quite bitter and are also very small. But they contain one [...]
Today, I had a case of the unstoppable cravings to eat. I started when I got up and didn’t stop until I got home from work. I ended with a bowl of cereal for dinner. This only happens to me once in a while, but what am I supposed to do about it? It’s like [...]